Arbitration News

The Yankees locked up the few players they had that were available for salary arbitration on Monday by giving one year deals to Chad Gaudin, Boone Logan, and Sergio Mitre. Gaudin and Mitre will likely compete for the fifth starter role in spring training along with Phil Hughes, Joba Chamberlain, and Alfredo Aceves. Whomever does not get selected as the fifth starter will fight for a spot in the bullpen (Likely Gaudin, Hughes, and Aceves in the bullpen, Chamberlain starting, and Mitre traded or sent to Triple-A). Logan will likely serve as a left handed specialist out of the bullpen after the departure of Phil Coke via trade.
One player who would have been available for salary arbitration this year would have been Chien-Ming Wang but the Yankees instead non-tendered him (essentially didn't offer him a contract) and he is now a free agent. The Yanks do have a couple million of dollars to work with in their budget but they are seemingly unwilling to take a low cost risk on Wang who had won 19 games in consecutive years before injuring his foot while running the bases in an inter-league game in 2008. He has not been able to come back from that injury and has suffered other injuries in the process but I hate to see him go after he gave so much to the team for the years he played. This game is a business so decisions cannot be made based upon emotions but I think he still has upside and would be worth a couple million to try and get him back to his 19 game winning shape.